FBI agents Brad Orsini and Edward Daer had Mr. Begolly’s mother, Joan Kowalski, pick him up on a pretense that his grandmother was sick. While stopped at a Burger King, agents identified themselves and opened the doors.

Begolly was charged with assault against FBI agents, using a deadly or dangerous weapon to injure the agents and possessing a firearm while committing the assault.

At the hearing, the FBI said that Begolly had posted jihadist messages as Asadullah Alshishani. The bureau also presented evidence that Begolly’s father dressed him as a Nazi officer as a child; that he owns an AK-47; that his brother and mother said he wants to die a martyr and take others with him; that his mother said he had been diagnosed at 6 with Aspberger’s Syndrome; and this his mother recently tried to have him admitted to a psychiatric facility.

Begolly is still listed on the Penn State directory as an undergraduate student pursuing a Letters, Arts, and Sciences degree through World Campus, but university spokeswoman Lisa Powers said that he was suspended last Wednesday and will not be allowed on a Penn State campus as long as charges are pending. Before he was a World Campus student, he had taken classes at New Kensington, a Commonwealth Campus.

The FBI agents interest in Begolly was raised because of incendiary and pro-jihadist postings he had made on the Internet over the past few years using the name Asadullah Alshishani. Jawa Report has the most informed look at what and where he was posting. One of the songs/poems he wrote in support of Osama bin Laden is embedded below, with some lyrics transcribed by Jawa Report. Make sure to note the use of auto-tune.

At his first hearing last Thursday, U.S. District Magistrate Judge Ervin Swearingen said that Begolly could be released to a holding house on $25,000 bail; but Assistant U.S. Attorney asked that the release be postponed while the prosecution appeals the decision. Begolly is being held in jail until a hearing before a senior U.S. District Court Judge about whether he should remain in jail for the charges resulting from the incident with the FBI agents.

Begolly had been mentioned in a Daily Collegian article published January 15, 2009 about a rally that was held at the Allen Street gates in protest of Israeli bombings of Gaza during the Gaza War.

Emerson Begolly (sophomore-religion) said he is Chechen, a people currently under Russian rule. He attended because he said he sympathized with Palestine’s situation.

The Yahoo profile also lists his Penn State webspace under the ‘anything else’ category. Back in 2006, the Begolly account posted a message to a group called Paternosters (which has nothing to do with Joe Paterno and everything to do with paternosters) promoting his Penn State website that features “an extensive collection of Catholic Rosaries, Muslim Tesbihs, Greek Kombolois, and various other beads. Features filigree rosaries, Faturan amber, antique worry and prayer beads, and more.”

To paraphrase Mark Twain: The reports of higher education’s death have been an exaggeration. American universities produce more research and relevant knowledge for the world at large than any other institutions I know of. Tuition may be too damn high, but over the long-run, undergraduate degrees are definitely worth the cost. But Penn State could be so much more. It used to be, I think.